Reunited (and it feels so good)

Had a nice weekend with Vicki's cousin Paul and his wife Barbara.

It was a full house.  With the boys home, Kevin's dog, Carrie visiting with her dog, and our two cats and Paul and Barbara, our house was practically bursting at the seams.

We wanted to take them to Rocheport to the winery on Saturday, but it rained (a needed rain, but ill timed for that) all day long.  So we did the driving tour of the MU campus, and took them downtown.  We ate at Village Wine and Cheese.  At the end of the afternoon we went to the Candy Factory, and back home to visit and rest up before going out to dinner at Sophia's.

Paul got out his camera just before 5:00pm, and I suddenly realized that I hadn't seen mine since... lunch.  I must've left it on the back of the chair.

I called the restaurant, but they said they hadn't seen anything.  So I decided to go.  Paul came with me.  We retraced our path downtown, once again going to the restaurant, and once again they couldn't find it, nor could we.  But the shift had changed, and I hoped that perhaps someone on the lunch shift had found it and put it somewhere where they weren't looking.  Still, it was looking pretty bleak.

Had a nice dinner at Sophia's with everyone (except the pets) that Paul graciously treated us to - then went home and went to bed.

Sunday was a nicer day, but they had to leave about 1:30.  Brian and Carrie wanted to go to the Boone County Fair, but it had pretty much closed down.  I talked with the neighbors, modified our bird feeder to keep squirrels, racoons, and sparrows from wasting food (I put some hardware cloth over the opening where they can get to the food and drilled some holes to wire it in.)  Birds can peck through the hardware cloth.   The sparrows had been raking seeds out of the feeder with their beaks and claws, and squirrels and raccoons were getting in contorted positions to grab hands full of them and scatter what they couldn't get in their mouths.

Also helped Kevin get his headliner back in his car, and McGyver-ed one of the map-light lenses back into place by drilling out the rivet that held the clip and using a screw instead.

Went back to Village Wine and Cheese today at noon and asked one more time.  They looked under the counters again.... then said "let me go back and check with the bags".

And brought it back to me.

Waves of joy  ;-)

Not Much

Went to Fort Wayne Monday, back on Tuesday.  A pretty uneventful drive. 

Got some Martha Stewart Plaster Pink paint at the KMart in Fort Wayne -- ours closed, and the paint we tried to match at Lowes didn't quite match well enough for touchup work.

It worked fine.

Also went out and got some wine for the weekend.  A Norton, A Cab, a Merlot, and a Cab-Merlot.  The Norton's the only one I've had before, it was the pricey one.  The other three were less expensive but well reviewed.

It's a hot, hot, humid day.  Relief should arrive for the weekend.

 

Cool, Clear, .... WATER!

Ok, the water timer is programmed and functioning.  Every day, 5 minutes at noon, and 5 minutes at 5:15.   So -- got that, folks?  The auto-watering system is hooked up and running.  [insert fireworks here]

• The chairs are re-covered
• The carpet is cleaned
• Paint is re-touched
• Garden is weeded, goat manure dumped
• anti-fungal applied to tomatoes
• stuff in the yard trimmed
• battery replaced in the thermometer center
• things are dusted
• floors are mopped

 
We're ready for company ;-)
 
Ryan and Kristy had us over for bbq with Ryan's parents last night.  The weather was great.  Vicki and I had been working all day on the house.  Had a very nice time.  Today we got up and put the house back together.  I power washed the lower deck and took care of the garden and some other yardwork.  Bart's acting up again.  Vicki got new rugs for the bathroom upstairs.  The temptation, I guess, plus the stress from the dog and the Rug Doctor -- he peed on the danged rugs.  We washed them in Orange Mr. Clean -- cats are supposed to be turned off by citrus.
 
Speaking of Mr. Clean... that's what I used in the Rug Doctor.  3/4 cup to 3.5 gallons.  I wouldn't reccomend it on your new carpet, but ours is not new, and I'd read that its much cheaper and possibly cleans better than the rug doctor soap... and it doesn't foam.  It worked great.  Don't sue me if it ruins your carpet, I'm just telling you we're pleased with the results.
 
Alex, Myla, and their daughter took off for Grand Teton National Park and Yellowstone National Park.  They are from the Ukraine.  They're in for a treat.  I sent him off with my zip drive to dump pictures from his new 6 megapixel camera. 
 
Anyway -- I'll be back Tuesday PM with Mom.
 
(*poof*)

Ya did-it-cha-did-it-cha-did-it-cha-di-di-di-did-it!

Da chairs be done, arm covers and all.  I think I mentioned they're not quite as nice as my last job, but pretty good, and clean, and the arm covers will help keep them that way.
 
Organize That Space is coming in the morning to put up the shelves at 7:30.  I got some blight powder for the tomatoes (hopefully I'm not too late).  So things are shaping up.  Vicki's sewing some green pillow covers for some old pillows to put on the new couch (that aren't currently green).  The new couch, by the way, is a kind of brick red color.
 
Mia's been real whiney.  I've mentioned before, there are reasons I don't have a dog, and she's reminding me of every g*$ d#!*$ of them.   However, something kind of sweet was going on the other night.  Mia was basically grooming Theo, who needs it because he doesn't clean his paws anymore.  He even had a bloody paw that she was cleaning.  And he just layed there and let her do it.  She was being quite gentle.  Motherly instincts, I guess.
 
No workout tonight.  I am still REALLY sore from leg day on Monday.  Ryan decided that we had 2 days in a row of using our arms and we needed a break before next chest day, so he fed me two Boulevard Dedication Ales (very good -- an experiment to come up with something for the opening of their new brewery um... soon?)  I love them, but they do pack a punch.  Whoo!   When they do open it all lovers of GOOD ale need to try this.  It's not official yet, I got some of the experimental ones .... friend of a friend kind of thing.  The first batch I tried wasn't as good, but this is superb.
 
Today's Courtney's 16th birthday, so Happy Birthday, Courtney!
 
Anyway, that's all for now.
 
(*poof*)
 
 
 

See, a related song doesn't ALWAYS pop into my head

The living room chairs are coming along. If we really want to, we can finish tonight. All the pieces are cut out and sewn except for three arm covers. I made one last night and it was pretty easy. So all we have to do is make those and take apart the other chair and staple it on and re-assemble it. And Scotchguard it.

The hydroponic watercress was wiped out this week by a massive colony of aphids. Very fat aphids, I might add. Oh well, time to scrap that project for now.

Kev & Bri are headed to Idaho today with Ken to see their new neice or nephew -- should be born while they are there. So that's exciting.

I've been playing with "Death of an Unpopular Poet" and "He Went to Paris" on the guitar. My cough is going away VERY slowly... but I can tell it's getting better.

Cover me

We started work on the great chair re-covering process. I'd forgotten a few things about making seams lie flat around corners, so we had a little trouble. I think I've got it now, but we spent 6 or so hours on Saturday and a few hours yesterday on them. One chair is covered (except for the new seat cushion) and all the pieces are cut and sewn for the second chair. This material is canvas, a bit thicker than what we used last time -- so it's not as forgiving when you need to fudge a little. So, make the seat cushions and some arm covers to protect the arms from dirt, and I think we'll be doin' fine.

Woke up this mornin' to the sound of thunder (how far off I sat and wondered .... started hummin' a song from 1962....)

Ain't it funny how the night moves? Anyway, it really wasn't fair. A nice, slow moving, rumbly thunderstorm should NOT move through when it's time to get up. They make me want to sleep, sleep, sleep... the sound is so soothing. Like a big cat purring or something. I don't know. But, I had to get up anyway.

We went out to dinner with Tom and Betty for Tom's 45th. Betty took all of us to The Melting Pot, a fondue place in Chesterfield. Very good, lots of fun. Not cheap. But good. We had a great time laughing and cutting up and shooting the bull.

Listening to Radio Margaritaville (high speed or low speed) If you're a Parrothead and you just like music (wide spectrum) -- I mean everything from Dean Martin to Merle Haggard; Jerry Jeff Walker to Peter Tosh, Paul Simon, Bonnie Raitt, Beatles ... and of course, a heapin' helpin' of Jimmy himself. It's an entertaining station.

Vicki and I went to farmer's market on Saturday and bought a bunch of fruit and veggies. I bought a hanging strawflower basket for the front (very pretty) and a hanging ever-bearing strawberry basket to round out the back deck.

And the auto-watering system still isn't programmed. Priorities, you know. It's been raining a lot so that's helped.

a-bee-a-bee-a-bee-a-bee-a that's all, folks!

What he lacked in ambition, he made up in intuition

Plowing straight ahead come what may

Ah, lots to do, but little ambition. Motivation is coming with the time crunch, though.

The automatic watering system is halfway hooked up, but not adjusted yet. Something's up with the timer. Don't think I have it programmed right.

I bought the material for the livingroom chairs. Zippers, too. Need staples for the staple gun. Touched up the paint on the kitchen cabinets. So anyway, the 2004 upholstery project will get underway pretty quickly here. It has to.

I re-arranged the bedroom closet last night to get rid of that old bedside table/cabinet that was in there and to fit my guitar case(s) in there. That was long on my list of things to do.

The tomatoes are showing signs of blight. I should just give up. Ok, how many times am I going to say that before I actually DO?

Brian's really getting in to Buffett. He has a bunch on his Ipod now. He's heard me play Buffett for half of his life, but now he's actually listening to it and apparently he likes what he hears. "He just makes sense", he says. Yup.

I'm learning "Death of an Unpopular Poet". Well, my version, in G. He plays it in G, but up higher on the neck, and uses a Bm and F#m in there somewhere... but pretty much I'm using GCD and I think Em and Am from time to time. It works.

But, it's time to go to see Lee.

(*poof*)

Carry on my wayward friend

Sarah and family are probably halfway across Kansas by now, heading to Summit County, CO. I can smell the air and see the trees and rocks. And the snow on the divide.

Meanwhile, back here in Missouri, it's July 1, and that means hot and humid. It's been a decent May/June, actually. We have had a lot of unseasonably pleasant weather. So I shouldn't complain much.

It looks like Brian's endeavor with his dad is going along pretty well so far. Kev could probably use a second job to get him over the hump until he finds a more suitable job that pays more and he gets rid of his car. But, it's a holiday weekend, and time to do a little celebrating. I think Amber Korn of Army Reunion fame is coming into town to visit. Plus it's Connie's dad's birthday this Sunday and Vicki and Connie are putting together a party at the VA for him.

But there's also lots to do around the house. What an exciting day it will be in the blog when I can report that the auto-watering system is hooked up. But that day is not today. I think the veggie garden is starting to suffer a bit because of it, too. The screen door on the deck works now. Vicki's meeting some people about shelves at the bottom of the stairs tonight after work (get some estimates).

Carpet needs cleaning. My closet needs cleaning, too. No, not in the moronic self-absorbed Eminem sense. In the "I have too much junk and not enough room to store my stuff" sense... like guitar cases, for instance. Also need to trim the hedges out front and plant my creeping phlox. And I need to rewire the digital audio feed from the sattelite receiver to my stereo in the living room.

Hmmm, well. I've run out of steam. So.... later.